FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 989
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE RIZZO.
Read 1st time March 15, 2001, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 288, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to extra unemployment compensation for certain industrial employees, with an emergency clause.
Section A. Chapter 288, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 288.395, to read as follows:
288.395. 1. Extra unemployment compensation benefits shall be available as provided by this section to applicants who meet the requirements set forth in this section and who are permanently laid off due to lack of work after February 1, 2001, if such applicants were employed and laid off by:
(1) Any steel manufacturer doing business in a city with a population of more than three hundred fifty thousand inhabitants located in more than one county; and
(2) Any vendor of steel manufactured by a manufacturer described in subdivision (1) of this subsection, if said vendor is located in a city with a population of more than three hundred fifty thousand inhabitants located in more than one county, and if such vendor derived at least five percent of its total revenue in the year 2000 from direct sales of steel manufactured by such a manufacturer.
2. The extra unemployment compensation benefits allowed by this section shall be payable from the fund and shall not affect the future tax rate of a taxpaying employer, nor shall such extra benefits be charged to the reimbursing account of a government or nonprofit employer.
3. An applicant is eligible to receive extra unemployment compensation benefits pursuant to this section for any week during the seventy-eight week period following the effective date of the applicant's benefit account of regular unemployment compensation benefits, as a result of a layoff described in subsection 1 of this section, if:
(1) A majority of the applicant's wage credits were with an employer described in subsection 1 of this section;
(2) The applicant otherwise meets the eligibility requirements set forth by law;
(3) The applicant is not subject to a disqualification pursuant to law; and
(4) The applicant is not entitled to regular unemployment compensation benefits and the applicant is not entitled to receive unemployment compensation benefits pursuant to any other state or federal law for that week.
If the applicant qualifies for a new regular benefit account at any time after exhausting regular unemployment compensation benefits as a result of a layoff described in subsection 1 of this section, the applicant must apply for and exhaust entitlement to those new regular unemployment compensation benefits.
4. (1) The weekly extra unemployment compensation benefit amount available to an applicant pursuant to this section shall be the same as the applicant's weekly regular unemployment benefit amount on the benefit account established as a result of a layoff described in subsection 1 of this section.
(2) If an applicant qualifies for a new benefit account in this or any other state, after exhausting regular unemployment benefits as a result of a layoff described in subsection 1 of this section and the weekly benefit amount on that new account is less than the applicant's extra unemployment compensation benefit amount, the applicant shall be entitled to receive a weekly benefit amount pursuant to this section equal to the difference between the weekly benefit amount on the new benefit account and the applicant's weekly amount of extra unemployment compensation benefits. If the weekly benefit amount on the new benefit account exceeds the weekly amount of extra unemployment compensation benefits, the applicant shall not be entitled to any extra unemployment compensation benefits until the applicant exhausts unemployment compensation benefits on that new account.
5. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, an applicant whose layoff is described in subsection 1 of this section shall be eligible to receive any type of unemployment benefits for any week even if the applicant has a pending claim for that week for payment in an amount equal to or in excess of the applicant's weekly unemployment benefit amount in the form of compensation for loss of wages under the workers' compensation law of this state or any other state or pursuant to a similar law of the United States. If payment is made on the workers' compensation claim for any week for which any type of unemployment compensation benefits are received, the unemployment compensation benefits for that week shall be reduced by the amount of workers' compensation benefits received for that week. The amount of the reduction shall be an overpayment and may be recovered in the manner set forth by law. This subsection shall be effective on the date of any layoff described in this section which takes place after this section becomes law.
Section B. Because immediate action is necessary to provide income security to the citizens of this state affected by the
layoffs described in this act, the enactment of section A of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of
the public health, welfare, peace and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the
constitution, and the enactment of section A of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and
approval.
Missouri House of
Representatives